David Zaslavsky, Pravda's journalistic revenge weapon, exploded again last week. This time his target was Author William L. ("Bill") White (They Were Expendable, Queens Die Proudly), who accompanied U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Eric A. Johnston on a tour of Russia last summer. Zaslavsky's blast was touched off by White's forthcoming book, Report on the Russians, excerpts from which appear in the December Reader's Digest. Sample passage:
¶ "There is, however, one marked difference between inmates of the Soviet Union and of the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing, where I have often visited an old friend. Food and clothing in both places are about the same, maybe a little better in Lansing. But should my Kansas friend decide his penitentiary was not well run, and express the hope that there might be a change of wardens, he would run no danger of being shot if he were overheard, by a stool pigeon."
Zaslavsky on White: An obscure American newspaperman of "doubtful reputation." His book's conclusions: "The standard stew from the Fascist kitchen, with all its aroma of calumnies, unpardonable ignorance and undisguised malice . . . [They] reveal the features of the worst section of the American Press."
White on Zaslavsky: "He is, I believe, the same man who attacked [Wendell Willkie] last January as a 'Political gambler' who was 'playing a peculiar political game' because he discussed the situation of the Baltic states and Poland. . . ."